Grow your business through lead generation.

The development of Lead and Data Networks comprising of thousands of website publishers to host consistent campaigns across the Internet is helping businesses grow and gain a significant advantage over their counterparts who are still only using traditional methods of direct marketing.

Simon Wajcenberg, Chief Executive Officer of Clash-Media, the UK’s leading Lead and Data Network, explains how using Online Lead Generation can have a dramatic impact on business growth.

This unique approach of Online Lead Generation forms an important part of a direct marketing campaign and boosts the effectiveness of any B2C marketing initiative.

There are more consumers on the internet today – broadband subscriptions are increasing at a rate of around 20 per cent every year, which makes the web now, more than ever, the ideal place to gather marketing data and capture leads.

However, simply using tools such as PPC, SEO, email marketing, banner advertising and affiliate marketing are not enough.

Search Engine Optimisation is increasingly common – over 70 per cent of organisations use Natural Search or Paid Search as part of a multi-faceted direct marketing campaign.

Paid search is an effective method of generating leads but its auction environment is making the search landscape more competitive which has resulted in rising costs.

The benefit of Online Lead Generation is that lead prices are fixed and multiple companies in the same market can pay the same rate per lead.

Similarly affiliate marketing can be a useful mechanism, but is often limited simply by the size of the affiliate network itself and lack of control over affiliate relationships. This means that companies may have to use multiple affiliate networks to gain reach, adding to the management burden of the campaign.

The disparate nature of an affiliate campaign means that speed of delivery can be slow to start, with unpredictable consistency in terms of quantity and quality.

You cannot easily turn on and off an affiliate campaign making it an effective long term strategy – but if you want to manage campaigns by capping spend and controlling exposure by time, other strategies such as Online Lead Generation need to be integrated into the overall marketing strategy.

Online Lead Generation is the youngest member of the direct marketing family and it is now one of the fasting growing mechanisms for direct marketing – the industry is expected to double in size between 2007 and 2009.

The success has been brought about because Online Lead Generation enables businesses to use the web to contact consumers who express an interest in their product or service by setting up and launching campaigns that capture and quickly qualify leads.

This enables businesses to achieve higher conversion rates compared to most other direct marketing activities as the advertiser can specify exactly what leads they wish to receive – for example women living within the M25 earning over £30,000 a year.

At Clash-Media we have developed a process of Online Lead Generation that uses unincentivised opt-in processes to capture consumer information. As a result we can create accurate profiles of consumers with the suitability to buy products and services.

The delivery mechanisms for Online Lead Generation, like the campaigns themselves, encompass speed and ease of use to increase the opportunity for successful conversion – which is the critical element of the campaign for every business.

Clash-Media also helps businesses to be mobile within the online community and pick up on the latest consumer trends – because we build relationships with social networking sites, price comparison engines or loyalty discount sites to optimise the capture of consumer data.

The Internet – now a key part of multi-channel marketing

Businesses need direct marketing – every organisation has to be in contact with its customers, with a view to converting sales. Direct marketing is targeted, more easily measured and can often generate rapid results. Some forms of direct marketing – such as postal and telephone campaigns – have been in existence for many years, others, such as Online Lead Generation are the new members of the family.